Summer's Bounty

A week ago the contents of this jar were resting comfortably in a Kinderhook, NY strawberry patch. The peas were nestled in their pods like… well, like peas in a pod. The weather’s been miserable this season for humans but the fruits and vegetables seem to be having a wonderful time.

I’ve written before about how people accustomed to supermarkets enjoy spending a few hours harvesting their own food. As we plucked strawberries, picked peas, pulled garlic from the dirt, and filled baskets with cherries we could see the farmhands doing their chores. Like us they kept an eye on the thunderheads that have been with us every day.

The foreign workers our farms rely on must think it weird that the gringos come out to the fields and do this for fun. It would be interesting to trade places for a day with one of them. I get the feeling that we’d each be eager to get back to our real jobs by the end of the day.